The present invention relates in general to rotary devices, and more specifically, to improved pumping devices and methods for their control.
One exemplary type of rotary machine is a centrifugal pumping device or mechanical circulatory assist device for treating patients with heart failure. Many types of circulatory assist devices are available for either short term or long term support for patients having cardiovascular disease. For example, a heart pump system known as a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) can provide long term patient support with an implantable pump associated with an externally-worn pump control unit and batteries. The LVAD improves circulation throughout the body by assisting the left side of the heart in pumping blood. Examples of LVAD systems are the DuraHeart® LVAS system made by Terumo Heart, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich. and the HeartMate II™ and HeartMate III™ systems made by Thoratec Corporation of Pleasanton, Calif. These systems typically employ a centrifugal pump with a magnetically levitated impeller to pump blood from the left ventricle to the aorta. The impeller is formed as the rotor of the electric motor and rotated by the rotating magnetic field from a multiphase stator such as a brushless DC motor (BLDC). The impeller is rotated to provide sufficient blood flow through the pump to the patient's systemic circulation.
Early LVAD systems utilized mechanical bearings such as ball-and-cup bearings. More recent LVADs employ non-contact bearings which levitate the impeller using hydrodynamic and/or magnetic forces. In one example, the impeller is levitated by the combination of hydrodynamic and passive magnetic forces.
There is a trend for making centrifugal blood pumps used as the mechanical circulatory support devices more miniaturized to treat a broader patient population, more reliable, and with improved outcomes. To follow this trend, contactless impeller suspension technology has been developed in several pump designs. The principle of this technology is to levitate the pump impeller using one or a combination of forces from electromagnets, hydrodynamics, and permanent magnets. In the meanwhile, the pump should be hemocompatible to minimize the blood cell damage and blood clot formation. To that end, the bearing gap between the levitated impeller and the pump housing becomes an important factor. A small gap may lead to the high probability of the thrombus formation in the bearing or to elevated hemolysis due to excessive shear stress. Likewise, a large gap can compromise the hydrodynamic bearing performance and the pump efficiency.
One pump design utilizing active magnetic bearings achieves the desired bearing gap by levitating the impeller using magnetic fields generated by electromagnetic coils. However, in such a design there is the need for a separate bearing control system that includes the position sensors and electromagnetic coils to control the impeller position. Another pump design levitates the impeller using hydrodynamic thrust bearings combined with passive magnetic bearings. However, such a design usually requires a small bearing gap to provide sufficient hydrodynamic bearing stiffness to maintain impeller levitation and prevent contacts between impeller and the pump housing. Such a small gap may result in an insufficient washout and vulnerability to blood clotting thus compromising hemocompatibility.
Therefore, a solution is needed to enhance the bearing gap to achieve adequate washout without increasing the complexity of the pump mechanical design and reducing the pump efficiency.
There is a need for a pump that includes an integrated control method for controlling the impeller position to enhance the bearing gap without increasing the complexity of the pump mechanical design and reducing the pump efficiency.
There is the need for a blood pump designed to maintain a centered position of the impeller to limit hemolysis and thrombosis without needing active control of the stationary levitating magnetic field.
There is a need for pumps which overcomes the above and other disadvantages of known designs.